WarpBall Update: Enter the AI

Good news everyone! An update to WarpBall just got released, introducing the first version of the game’s AI! I’ve been working on the AI over the last 2 weeks alongside Standpoint, and this is only the start. I may end up writing a technical post on how the AI works, but I’m looking forward to seeing what people think of this release.

Check out the Green AI go!

The new build should also make the game look a bit better on more powerful computers. Despite WarpBall being a pretty simple game, it’s not got away from my love of writing new shaders. In this case, my shader love has come out in how the player “pucks” are drawn. Before, player pucks were simple sprites, but I’ve moved to a new method of drawing anti-aliased circles purely within a shader. This should mean that the player circles should look far crisper on bigger screens! Also it’ll reduce graphics memory slightly since we don’t need the player sprite, but hey, we weren’t really using a lot of memory anyway.

The next build of WarpBall should contain some cool new features. I’ll be starting to implement the new game-modes, to add some more variety to the game! The next build should launch in about 2 weeks time, so keep an eye out! This week will be back to working on Standpoint for the most part! Exciting times are coming with new level sections.

The new build is available now on Desura, either in the Desura client, or as a downloadable install so get your warp on! Also, don’t forget to head on over to WarpBall’s IndieDB page, and leave comments on the forums to help us with the development!